2,200 women lose their uterus to greedy doctors

In a development that reveals the sorry state of affairs of medical establishments in the country, around 2,200 women in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, have been duped into getting their uteruses removed by greedy doctors. What is even more worrying is that the hospitals involved in this racket were banned in October 2015, but they are still operational. Sources said that these hospitals have managed to keep their operations running in connivance with government health officials. Most of the victims were from poor families and belonged to the Lambani and Dalit communities.

The trick employed by doctors working at these banned hospitals was to instill fear among the victims that they would get cancer if they did not get their uterus removed. Every time a poor woman would walk into these hospitals complaining about stomach ache or similar symptoms, the doctors would initially give some medicine and ask her to visit later. In case the woman came for a second round of checkups, the doctors would order ultrasound and other tests, post which, they would say that removing the uterus has become necessary to avoid cancer. The poor woman would have no option but to accept what the doctor said and the hospital would end up making a quick buck.

In a report filed by the health department, it has been mentioned that in most of these cases, there was no real need to remove the uterus. It said that doctors were conducting the operations just to mint money.

Currently, the affected women are staging a protest, asking the government to take action against the doctors and the hospitals involved.